2016 Virginia Travel Guide and State Map

Historic SitesFirst Landing Cross

Upon touching the shore of the New World on April 26, 1607 (13 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock) the first permanent English settlers from the London Company set up a cross on the newly named Cape Henry shore in gratitude to God and to affirm England's claim to the site. These settlers later traveled up the James River to Jamestown.

Each year a pilgrimage is organized by the Order of Cape Henry to celebrate this milestone. The present-day granite cross was erected in 1935 and is a national landmark.